S4 Episode 04: From Bot to Beast
by Taismo-89
Summary: When Sentinel Magnus disappears while a strange creature, the identification of it will lead Bumblebee to deal with his past issues once more, and the team to find out some things they didn't knew about. TFA and all its characters belong to Hasbro and Cartoon Network.


Sentinel Magnus pursued a silhouette that darted away from him impossibly quickly. Knowing Sentinel, he would not give it a second thought that this bot was unusually fast. The elite guard are supposed to be the best of the best, no time for taking it easy!

"Now I got you, speedy!" He swore under his breath as he followed it. Then, he was surprised by the opening of the space bridge appearing out of nowhere. Where was that thing going?

"Okay, scum! Stop right there, and put your hands in the air!" he barked aggressively. The silhouette hissed in response, twisting around, knocking the Magnus Hammer away and grabbing his vehicle mode by the front bumper. "Let me go! Where are you taking me?!"

The swirling vortex of the space bridge got closer and closer. In a flash, Sentinel and the thing were gone, leaving behind only the Magnus' weapon.

* * *

The next day, the Elite Guard were searching for any clue of where Sentinel could be. Their search was not as fruitful as they had hoped, much to their chagrin.

"Ya find anythin'?" Jazz asked.

"No sign of Sentinel Prime," Safeguard pointed out, before splitting back to the Jet Twins.

"It's just so… surprising..." Star commented to Bumblebee. "I admire their determination on finding their superior. Although he obviously couldn't care less for them, they care for him."

"Well, they were trained to obey their superiors. Why not also to respect jerks like him?" Bumblebee responded. However, she noticed how his voice trembled slightly. He was hiding something from her again.

"Bee..."

"Ratchet caught some of the security cameras' recordings, and I saw something that shocked me." Bee signalled for them all to follow him. Soon they were all reunited with Ratchet and Optimus, watching the camera footage.

"You tell me where to stop, Bumblebee?" Ratchet asked. Several minutes of the footage flew by before Bee paused and pointed to a blur in the footage. Something about the blur caught his attention. A blur that resembled a giant bug.

"That bug thing's got to be him. I don't know anybot else with this kind of form," Bumblebee pointed out.

"Who? What are you-" Star wanted to know, until she was cut.

"Bumblebee, we saw transwarp explosion," Jetfire pointed out. "Even if Bug Bot survived..."

"Not sure if bug bot be making it this long," Jetstorm added.

"Well, whether he made it or not, whoever that bot was took Sentinel," Optimus chimed in. "The two entered the space bridge shortly before it disappeared."

"The coordinates of the space bridge are still there. We can open another one at their exact location," Ratchet alerted.

"Then do it, Ratchet. I'm going after them," Bee decided.

"Wait, Bumblebee. It's far too dangerous to go alone."

"I'll go with him," Star assured, then the Jet Twins stepped forward.

"We be going too!"

"Big surprise..." Sari chuckled.

* * *

In a jungle-like place, Sentinel rubbed his arm and his optics. He felt light-headed from being smacked on the head. Whatever or whoever it was, his weapon injured its arm so he could free himself, but an unknown amount of time passed as he tried to find a way to go back to Cybertron.

"What the spark is this place? All of these trees look the same!" He complained.

He wandered around aimlessly, searching for a way out of the mess of organic growths, or for some high ground to get a good view of the place.

There was a crash behind him, and he whirled around, deploying his shield. Then, a very familiar bug bot was seen.

"A-ha! I knew there was something strange going on here!" Sentinel stood up, pointing his sword at Waspinator.

"Wazzpinator no give up bossbot. Wazzpinator has plans. Spider bot out there. Wazzpinator escape from lady bot." He said, approaching the Magnus, who was just worried about getting the scrap out of there. "Wazzpinator… go back home. Get Bots help. Wazzpinator need help… be Wazzp again."

"Yeah, right. Just stay with your hands, or claws in the air where I can see them!" Sentinel didn't even want to hear him as he stepped away from the techno organic, not noticing the webbing behind him.

"No!" Hissed Waspinator, lunging for him suddenly, driving him back into the web as he pulled out his sword and attacked. There was a dry chuckle from above Sentinel, and a sudden stinging pain in his neck before everything went black. The last thing he saw was Waspinator crawling away with a claw around his wounded torso.

* * *

Once they crossed the space bridge, Bumblebee looked around. Star and the Twins followed him shortly after.

"So that's where the space bridge leads. Animatron, the Jungle Planet."

"Heard Energon from planet is delightful treat." Jetfire pointed out.

"Warm, smooth, well-condensed." Jetstorm added.

"Fascinating." Starshine pointed out. "But I think Bee's not really interested on this now. Right, brother?" Bee sighed, clenching his fists. It was no use: he had to tell her.

"You remember when the team told you about when I get expelled from boot camp along with Bulkhead?"

"Yes… but I for one felt there were much detailing missing. None of them told much."

"Well… this detailing has a name… it was a bot that started to, as Sari would call, bully me…

 _"His name was Wasp. By the time he started making my time there unbearable, Sentinel Magnus, still Minor, already thought badly of me._

 _"Then, I ended up overhearing somebot speaking to Megatron, and after seeing Wasp coming out of there, Shockwave, under his Longarm disguise, used me to get him jailed in his place. Me and Bulkhead got kicked out because I assumed responsibility over an accident that happened there… but only stellar cycles later, I found out my mistake. I had sent an innocent to jail, and a Decepticon spy attacked our Supreme commander._

"After Wasp escaped, Blackarachnia turned him into Waspinator, and they both disappeared into a transwarp explosion. We thought they were gone… but he's alive… and he's here, on Animatron..." Bee finished explaining. The Jet Twins looked at each other, feeling bad for him. Star looked at her adoptive brother. That was serious. "That's enough for you?"

"... yes," Star answered, before putting her servos on Bee's shoulders. "I understand now why you hate Shockwave so much. What he did to you… "

"It's not worse than what he did after that!" Bee walked a bit away. "I… I don't even care about not being part of the Elite Guard like I always wanted… but what Shockwave did to Cybertron is my fault… and what happened to Wasp… he wasn't the nicest Bot, but he didn't deserve what I did to him..."

Star felt terrible of seeing her brother like that. Oh, she wished she could help him feel better at once… Suddenly, however, something started moving behind them.

Crawling, with oil and energon leaking from his wound, Waspinator emerged from behind the bushes. Bee gasped, not only in surprise of seeing who he was just speaking of, but also in shock: what happened to him? The Jet Twins prepared to attack.

"Wait!" Star asked the Twins, as Bee remained motionless, not knowing what to do. The girl Bot calmly touched the Predacon's head. "It's okay. We're not gonna hurt you… please, we just wanna help you..."

Waspinator widened his optics. He'd never seen this Bot in his life. The twins looked in confusion. He frowned and hissed in pain as he tried moving, sparks of electricity flowing atop his head.

"Please, don't move much, or it'll hurt more," Star alerted.

"Wazz… Wazzpinator… help..." The Predacon struggled to say.

"We gotta find a safe place then," Bee decided. "This place is literally a jungle full of dangers."

"I think I can help." The bots looked behind. A shadowy figure approached them.

"Who are you? How did you know we were here?" Star asked.

"Don't fear. I will not hurt you." Stepping out of the shade, he revealed his form: it was a bot with a very unusual structure. He resembled… a bat. "You may call me Nightscream."

* * *

Sentinel Prime shook his helm, trying to get his optics to focus.

"Oh, I see our guest is awake," a familiar voice called his attention. Then, he noticed, he was trapped in some kind of pod, unable to move. "It's been a long time since our last encounter… Sentinel." A spider-like female Bot, with purple skin and black and gold armor approached him, her red optics glaring at him.

"Blackarachnia?! You-You're alive?! But… that-that's impossible!" The Magnus could not believe what he was seeing.

"Hm… I heard these same words before." She narrowed her optics at him. Then, her bug Predacons, one fern green and red and the other purple, hissed at him. "There, there, children. Great job bringing him to me, by the way." She patted their heads.

"So it was you, and not Waspinator?!"

"Why, look who's finally started to understand. Waspinator was a big disappointment. It does surprise me, however, that he made it after all those orbital cycles we've been stuck on this jungle planet." The spider Bot stepped back and looked at the machine behind she and her minions. "I still can remember when his instability resulted in that transwarp explosion."

 _"Luckily, and still unbelievably, I have survived and found a way to rebuild my transwarp generator, and make it better using the genetic signatures I acquired from all the different species this planet has… not to mention meet and greet new members of my army."_

"These two little ones you see were Bots of great value already, being Inferno, a loyal servant, and Antagony, a gratifying Decepticon. All they needed was a bit of this machine to evolve and become better."

"It's not exactly an army with only two bug brains to help you."

"Funny you should mention that, Sentinel." She pressed a button on the panel, opening the pod. "I was just about to start a new test, and you have been chosen as the subject, along with any Bot that is foolish enough to try searching for you." Blackarachnia pointed to the sky, and climbed on Antagony. "And if I know the Autobots, there IS somebot foolish enough..." Sentinel gulped, as he watched her flying away.

* * *

As the young Bots joined into an abandoned ship, the bat Bot helped Star to take care of Waspinator's wound.

"My apologies if my master's not present. He and his pupils are out training and gathering Energon for the little ones," Nightscream murmured, bringing some leaves. "Here, maybe these can help in the healing."

"Nightscream, your help couldn't have come at a better time. I had no idea there were other Autobots living on this planet," Star commented. Looking down at Waspinator, she rubbed his wound, cleaning it. "Does it still hurt?"

"Wazzzpinator… okay now," Waspinator grunted, feeling his pain diminish. "Star-bot good friend..."

"*giggle* It's Starshine, actually." Nearby, Bumblebee seemed lost in his thoughts.

Waspinator stared at the yellow Bot in silence. In his previous demented state, he had doubts and hatred, but mostly hatred. But somehow, after reassembling himself, he managed to regain a bit of his sanity. At least enough to know he had to stay away from Blackarachnia and remove his Decepticon insignia.

He reflected a bit better over his actions. He felt pain, sadness… but mainly guilt. Star knew that very well, especially after using her spark-speaking technique to feel his mental state.

"Bumble-bot… not angry?" Waspinator broke the silence.

"Only with himself… he suffered more than you think when he found out the truth…" Star explained. "Right, Bee?" The yellow Autobot sighed.

"Wasp-inator… I know you probably won't forgive me… But… I really am sorry." Bee looked down. "What I did was plain unforgivable, and I'll understand if you don-" His speech was cut short by Waspinator's shivering paw on his arm.

"Wazzzpinator… understands now… Bumble-bot innocent too…" The bug bot said, and Star smiled. "Wazzp… forgives Bumble-bot." Bee smiled at that, and wiped his optics, seeing he was about to leak.

"See? It wasn't that hard, was it?" Star pointed out.

"I'd better try contacting Optimus and the team. They can help us," Bumblebee whispered to Starshine. He pressed his audio on his helmet, but nothing happened. "The signal's all messed up."

"Well, our communication devices have not worked since forever. I don't think anyone actually knows we're here," Nightscream pointed out.

"But ours ARE functional. We've got to try," Star remarked. Bee nodded and set out to try his luck, moving outside to test the signal. "Don't worry, Waspinator. We'll help you as well as we can."

"Wazzp… actually..." The Predacon pointed out, making Star chuckle. The Jet Twins, observing from faraway, talked with each other.

"Have we been replaced..."

"...by Predacon?"

"Wazzp… glad Starshine here." The twins pouted in jealousy.

* * *

Bumblebee tried once more contacting the team in the ship's ceiling, only receiving static as response.

"Wow, he really meant it. No wonder no bot came after Nightscream or any of his friends..." He thought. Then, something dropped down on him, and in a klik, Bumblebee had disappeared.

"What the..." Bee tried freeing himself, before getting his body trapped by a strange substance that quickly solidified.

"Well, if it isn't you… the little bumbler of Optimus's team." Blackarachnia glared at him with narrowed optics.

Back to the ship, Starshine observed the surroudings as Waspinator recovered, and Nightscream explained how the ship worked to her and the twins.

"So… your little ones… where are they, exactly?"

"They for now are on their berths, resting their energy," he explained. "My master and their students are great teachers and always make sure all of us have everything to survive."

"I see… you're a family, just like Optimus's team… and the twins, of course." Star chuckled, then she saw the room's screens. "Have you ever checked on your devices?"

"Not as often as we used to. Last time my master did, the circuitry of the Hyperborea was fried."

"Well, I haven't seen anything to enable communication systems around this planet. Maybe that's why no Bot ever searched for you."

"It makes sense, but… building one of those would require an unsure amount of time."

Star thought for a moment, as she saw something that resembled an antenna tower.

"Twins, I think I have an idea. I will require Safeguard's help." Star smiled to them, and they smiled back widely.

* * *

The Predacons watched over the prisoners as Blackarachnia programmed the transwarp generator.

"Look, can't you just use him and leave me alone? Cybertron won't survive without my leadership," Sentinel babbled, voice getting higher and higher as his emotions spiralled out of control. Bee pouted, plainly upset.

"I'm sure they'll make do without you," the spider lady replied. "Now pipe down until the ceremony starts."

"Ceremony?" the yellow Autobot asked.

"Oh, right, you weren't here before..." Blackarachnia approached him, caressing his cheek. "Basically, there'll soon be newer Predacons in my army… and YOU two are the lucky Bots to be a part of this," Bumblebee gasped. "Reminds you of somebot?" The yellow bot looked down, while Sentinel remained struggling to free himself.

"I'm too important to become a monster! Cybertron needs me!" The Magnus shrieked.

"Aw, stop whining. As if that was possible... Maybe after you join my army, I can get the other Bots that Antagony told me about..."

"Don't think about getting near Star or the Twins!" Bee growled.

"They're here?!" Sentinel gasped.

"Enough foolishness. Inferno, Antagony, bring up the subjects." Blackarachnia instructed. The two prisoners were freed from the cocoon-like prisons and grabbed by the arms.

"Can't activate Stingers..." Bee struggled.

"Your weapons were deactivated… courtesy of my Predacons," Blackaracknia chuckled. "And with your devices not working, no Bot will come to save you now!"

"That's what you think!" There was a voice coming from the sky. Optimus Prime lead from the sky with the Magnus hammer on his hands. Along with him came Bulkhead, Sari and Ratchet.

"What?!" Blackarachnia narrowed her optics. Ratchet and Bulkhead took out the Predacons, while Optimus knocked blackarachnia off her throne and Sari freed Sentinel and Bee.

"Boy, am I glad to see you guys!" Bee laughed, as he was freed. "But how did you..."

"Starshine managed to send us a quick message. We met her and the others on the Hyperborea," Sari explained. "I was so worried..." She hugged him, before stepping away, with a nervous chuckle. "Uh, WE were all worried."

"Waspinator… better saying, Wasp, told us about Blackarachnia, and then Star realized you hadn't returned from your try to call us." Bulkhead pointed out. "That's honestly unusual coming from you… but in a very good way."

"Well, I don't know a better group of bots to help," Bee pointed out. Sentinel cleared his throat, but saw no Bot had turned with embarassement to him. Blackarachnia seized the distraction to attack.

"Predacons, get them!" She gave out a firm order, as Inferno and Antagony recovered. The two bug bots charged against the team.

By that moment, Starshine and Nightscream came down to help. Waspinator followed them, partially recovered from his wound.

"Sorry we were late. Wasp had a small glitch on the way." Bee laughed, giddy with the familiar rush of battle.

"Hurry!" Sari beckoned them towards the trees.

"We'll hold them off," Nightscream said before nodding to Safeguard, bringing him into the battle.

Safeguard and Nightscream defended themselves the best they could, until Blackarachnia used her poison to immobilize Safeguard, separating it into the Jet Twins once more.

"Enough! You have caused me too many problems already! I must have my subjects and this experiment has to happen now!" Blackarachnia snapped her fingers and her Predacons snatched the Bots' arms, and knocked Nightscream on the head, stunning him.

"Are you okay?"

"I'll make it," Nightscream assured. "But them… I'm not sure." He pointed out to the Twins, who were being carried away by the Predacons. The Spider Bot narrowed her optics, and shot fire and wind at her pursuers.

"You never told me she could do that." Star looked at Bee.

"Yeah, the victims of Lady Venomous would rather not speak of that..." The yellow Bot defended himself.

"Ouch."

"It's too late for them! Let's go!" Sentinel pointed out, wanting to leave immediately. The twins were stuck in the crossfire, and there was no way to reach them. Then Waspinator looked over to the transwarp generator.

"One thing… can be done..." Then, he flew up into the sky swiftly.

"Wasp!" Bee gasped.

"Wazzp… do right thing… for friends..." he declared, before diving into the transwarp generator, knocking out Blackarachnia on the way.

The device detonated, creating a transwarp explosion that caused a humongous gush of wind, throwing all bots to different direcitons, heat searing over their frames.

As they recovered from the sudden explosion, Bee and Star gasped: the transwarp generator was in pieces. Then, from behind the remains of the transwarp generator, a hand rose. It was Wasp, who was returned to his normal Bot state, to Bee's relief and Star's delight.

"No!" Blackarachnia snarled. "That could have been me! It should have been me!"

As the two young Bots helped the green one to walk out of the scrap pile, he tried to stabilize his walking, feeling dizzy from the explosion. As his optics recovered, he observed Star staring at him.

"Welcome back, Wasp." She said, with a smile, as the green Bot noticed his return to Bot form. At that moment, Inferno and Antagony shook off their shock and carried their mistress away from that place.

"This won't be the last time we see each other again… my army and I will rise soon, and you will pay for all my pain!" Blackarachnia swore, as she observed the team from far away.

The team helped Sentinel Prime get his head out of the ground.

"Is it just me or does gravity hate me?" The bot pouted hard.

"If you knew how many felt like that..." Ratchet muttered.

* * *

Back on the Hyperborea, Starshine healed the Jet Twins' poisoned parts, and the team showed Nightscream a new project for a better antennae and better communication systems.

"Bumblebot not only one need apologizing." Wasp called Bee's attention. "Wasp… sorry for everything. Wasp did not want any of what happened to happen." He turned his head, ashamed of his acts. Bumblebee stared at the saddened green Bot, and smiled softly.

"Bumblebot knows… and Bumblebot forgives Wasp." The yellow bot offered a hand in friendship, and abruptly, Wasp's optics twitched and a small static flourished atop his helm. Then, Wasp hesitantly shook Bee's hand and smiled.

"Yeah, yeah, all right, everything's okay now, but I really need to take this bot with me," Sentinel stalked towards him, while Wasp gasped. Then, Jetfire and Jetstorm stood in front of him.

"We are sorry, Sentinel Prime, sir…" Jetfire started.

"But we are not letting you do this," Jetstorm completed.

"What?! How dare you..." Sentinel growled.

"If you remember well, sir, real culprit of betrayal was Longarm aka Shockwave..."

"Therefore, Wasp not to be blamed for anything. In other words, Wasp free of all accusations. Plus, can come back to Cybertron."

"Wasp… free?"

"You heard them," Bee patted the green bot's shoulders as he smiled.

"I am the Magnus here! I'm sure to let the council know about-"

"I'm sure the council wouldn't be angry if they knew you sent an innocent to prison, and insisted in going after him for glory," Optimus pointed out, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Sentinel growled, staring at the Bots gathered around him, and seeing it was a dead end: if he told any of that to the council, he would be in trouble. He changed to his vehicle mode to return. Optimus then turned to the team.

"Let's transform and roll back home. All of us." Wasp smiled, seeing that meant him too. "And thank you for your help. We hope to work with you again." The team leader turned to Nightscream.

"Same here, Optimus. I'll make sure to alert my master about the future threat and you all," Nightscream assured. As he saluted the team, the Autobots came aboard the space bridge.

* * *

Back on Cybertron, Wasp trained his wheels again, and his transforming to get back in shape, being watched by the Jet Twins, and cheered by Starshine. Far from there, Bumblebee watched everything.

"I'm glad to see you both finally made amends," Optimus called his attention. "It took me a while, but Jazz helped me into getting the Council to suspend Wasp's past accusations."

"I'm glad… and I've never been more relieved," Bee admitted, touching his chest. "It feels like I took a pile of scrap off my back."

"Bumblebee… I've been meaning to tell you this for a while… but I think you've changed since we came back from Earth. You managed to face your problems this time instead of running from them like you used to," Optimus pointed out.

"Well… since Star joined us… I guess I never opened myself so much. And you know, I do feel a change now. And it feels kinda good."

"Heh…. that's the perks of growing up, as Sari would define this. But Star isn't the only one you can open up too." Optimus placed a hand on Bee's shoulder. "Me, Ratchet, Bulkhead, everyone's with you, Bumblebee. You can talk with us if something is bothering you. And you know, if there's a thing I learned about the past is that although you can't alter it, as bad as it was... you can learn from it and become a better Bot."

"And you… think I've became one?"

"I'm sure of it." Prime's smile made Bumblebee feel great.

"Thanks, boss."

"Now… why don't you go help your new old friend?" Optimus pointed to the group they were observing. Bee nodded in approval and went on his way.

The leader smiled. That once small kid had grown up very fast and so had his attitude and spark. This would prove to be very good for future missions.


End file.
